03/02/2017
NEWS STORY
At a time when fake news is said to have swung elections and referenda spare a thought for those whose businesses could be severely damaged by such practices.
Earlier this week, McLaren Automotive announced a strategic project, in partnership with BMW and others, to design and develop technology for the next generation of powertrains.
Lo and behold, it is now being suggested that this could herald a return to F1 for the German manufacturer while at the same time offering the McLaren F1 team an alternative to Honda.
"McLaren's long-standing and close relationship with Honda on our Formula 1 project remains completely unaffected by the announcement of a consortium involved in supporting the development of next-generation technology to be used in our successful road car business," bristled a McLaren spokesman when we brought the media report to his attention.
"Honda and McLaren have concluded that jointly improving our competitiveness in Formula 1 remains our prime focus together."
So, in order to clarify the situation: This is not a McLaren-BMW collaboration; it is McLaren Automotive - not McLaren Racing, which runs the McLaren-Honda Formula 1 team - in a consortium with a number of companies of which BMW is one. McLaren Racing and Honda remain utterly committed to each other in a joint Formula 1 project.